The mainsail and fisherman sail were repaired by the sailmaker in Itaparica. In the picture, I am inserting one of the troublesome (for many reasons) plastic battens into the mainsail after it had some rips repaired.

My posts are behind a fair bit, because I found a lot of things to take pictures of in Baia de Camamu (south of Salvador and Itaparica). I will be posting some more pictures from that area later.

I am in Maceio, in the state of Alagoas (Brazil) now. Maceio is a few hundred miles north of Baia de Camamu and Salvador. Del has returned to Rio for work and I am singlehanding again.

Del got sick while offshore and went to the hospital when we got to Maceio. He had a private supplemental insurance plan (60 USD per month) so we went to a hospital that is not for the public only (he said the public hospitals have long queues). After queuing for about 15 minutes to provide all his payment information, he was seen by the doctor. I had it even easier (I lost some sensation in two fingers a few weeks ago and wanted to find out if it was a real problem or something that just needed time to heal)--I asked at the ever-helpful yacht club (Federacao Algoan) and a member who was a doctor immediately looked at it, told me my wristwatch strap was too tight and probably caused the problem, and gave me some exercises to do. By phone, another doctor member (I think he's a neurologist, I didn't quite understand the word) arranged for me to come to his hospital office the next morning and see him there, in case I needed an xray. The following morning, the yacht club manager took me to the hospital, called the doctor from reception and we missed the queue entirely. After examining and discussing it, the doctor thought that no xray was likely necessary, and gave me a prescription for some vitamin B pills.

Two 25m wooden schooners under construction in the boatyard Estaleiro Camarada at Camamu. The owner, Elpidio Caetano, kindly gave us a lift to the boatyard (Camamu is very shallow) and showed us around.

On the schooner in the foreground, the frames (ribs) are made of piki, the middle, yellow plank is tatajouba, and both the upper (brown) plank and rubrail (red) are massaranduba. Though the keel cannot be seen, it is made of oiti. Massaranduba is an extremely strong, rot-resistant wood, which is quite difficult to put nails into (it dulls them). Tatajouba is rot-resistant and strong. Oiti is resistant to both rot and worms "after the boat dies, the keel continues". All fasteners are galvanized.

Wonderful stuff, there is a great book (?eBook?) in all this boat/schooner/building/wood information, very cool. How about some scantling/design info. Maybe you will post more pictures in your picassa album

Tue Mar 30 17:15:59 EDT 2010 | Richard Hudson

I have no design or scantling information, but asked the owner whether or not they use plans to build the boats. He said all the boats were built to plans (as opposed to built by eye).

Schooner awaiting repair

RichardFri Mar 26 6:30:00 EDT 2010, Baia de Camamu, Bahia, Brazil

A schooner awaits repairs in the backwaters of the schooner yard at Camamu.

i love these dugouts!! i can't recall the name but there's a german company that retails them in the european market, primitive chic

Mon Mar 29 6:49:38 EDT 2010 | Richard Hudson

Interesting to hear dugouts are sold in Europe.

I've been impressed by how well-used these dugouts are...seems most places I go I see some dugouts being used

Better Hats

RichardMon Mar 22 10:00:00 EDT 2010, Itaparica, Bahia, Brazil

For a hot place (like most of Brazil), these boxes seem a lot cooler way of moving stuff than using a backpack. I haven't tried it myself, though.

George, George and Yann, thanks for your comments.

I've been mostly working on the boat and relaxing in Itaparica. Del flew in from Rio to join me for the short sail south to the remote town of Camamu (more on this next entry), and then the sail north.